Aims: The purpose of the qualitative study was to gain insight into the way parents experience and manage the waiting process following a referral to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. The aim was to use the information for future service delivery and therapeutic engagement. Method: 6 parents whose child had been referred to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and had been waiting for more than eight weeks were recruited using a purposive sampling method and participated in a semi-structured interview. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using the principles of Pidgeon & Henwood’s (1992) grounded theory techniques, facilitating the development and refinement of a theoretical model. Results: The resulting model highlights the waiting experience as fraught by loneliness, abandonment and self blame resulting in an interchanging role of being active or passive and the subsequent cycle they subside into. Some parents use the waiting time effectively by searching for their own answers but may eventually become passive following a belief that their parenting is insufficient. The disempowerment and self blame that is perpetuated through waiting intensifies the parents’ helplessness and results in a wide disparity between a negative self view and the idealised view of the professional. Conclusion: This study described the difficult experiences parents face while waiting for their child’s initial appointment. Parents need to be offered support, information and empowerment while waiting with ongoing communication from the service. Recommendations for future service and clinical delivery are provided.

<p>The development and provision of equitable and acceptable standard of health services to all segments of the population has been the major objective of the 1993 Ethiopian National health policy. However, community based studies on satisfaction with public health care facilities reveal that the majority of the population are not satisfied with the services provided predominantly as a result of the long waiting times. Studies done on private health facilities on the contrary reveal that patients are satisfied with the service delivered within short waiting times in these clinics. Even though the speculated waiting time is thought to be long among the public health care facilities and short in private clinics, the actual waiting and service times have not been measured and compared. Aim: To determine the waiting and service times among the public and private health care facilities and measure the perceptions of &ldquo / acceptable&rdquo / waiting time among the providers and clients. Materials and methods: A cross sectional observational study using quantitative techniques was carried out amongst patients and staff at selected public and private health care facilities in Gondar District. Stratified sampling method was used to select facilities. All patients visiting the selected facilities and all staff who provided service to patients on the day of the study were included in the time-delimited sample. Data was collected by research assistants and health workers from all patients attending the health care facility by registering the arrival and departure time of each patient to the facility and to each service point on a patient flow card. Then data was cleaned and captured by a specific Waiting and Service Time database. Descriptive statistics was done on waiting and service times for each facility and this was summarized for each public and private health facility by using tables and graphs. Finally a comparison was made for private and public health facilities by using Wilcoxon-mann-whitney non parametric tests.</p>

O presente estudo tem como principal objetivo avaliar o impacto de aspectos contingenciais no modelo básico do efeito da espera na avaliação geral de um serviço. Com base em estudos referentes à espera já realizados, o presente trabalho definiu o “modelo básico do efeito da espera na avaliação geral do serviço” que consiste no impacto negativo da espera na avaliação geral do serviço por meio da suscitação de emoções negativas. A influência de fatores contingenciais sobre o modelo é a principal contribuição do estudo, dado que essa abordagem não havia sido ainda estudada. Inicialmente, foi realizada uma etapa exploratória, qualitativa, para investigar as relações propostas no modelo teórico, assim como para compreender melhor os serviços de saúde, campo de estudo da pesquisa. Na sequência, a influência do envolvimento do consumidor, da singularidade do serviço, da pressão do tempo e do relacionamento interpessoal no modelo central foi investigada através da realização de uma survey com 382 pacientes As hipóteses foram testadas por meio de modelagem de equações estruturais, com o software LISREL 8.51. Os resultados indicam que o envolvimento do consumidor tem impacto positivo no seu tempo de espera aceitável. Já o efeito da singularidade do serviço sobre essa mesma variável não foi confirmado. A pressão do tempo apresentou impacto positivo no tempo de espera percebido e o efeito moderador do relacionamento interpessoal na relação entre as respostas afetivas negativas e a avaliação geral do serviço também foi confirmada. Além das hipóteses propostas, foi realizado um teste exploratório segundo o qual se confirmou o efeito moderador da variável gravidade sobre as relações que compõe o modelo básico do efeito da espera da avaliação geral do serviço. No final, os resultados são discutidos, e as limitações do estudo e sugestões para futuras pesquisas são apresentadas. / The most important objective of the present study is to evaluate the impact of the contingency aspects on the basic model of the waiting effect in the overall service evaluation. Based on studies in reference to the wait already carried out, this study defined the "basic model of the waiting effect on the general evaluation of the service" as being the negative impact of waiting in the general evaluation of the service because of the rise of negative emotions. The influence of contingency factors over the model is the most important contribution of the study as this approach has never been studied before. Iniatially, there was a qualitative exploratory to investigate the proposed relations in the theoretical model, as well as to have a better understanding of health care services, the field study of the research. Following that, the influence of the consumer involvement, the uniqueness of the service, the time pressure and the interpersonal relationship in the central model was investigated through a survey conducted among 382 patients The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling with LISREL 8.51 software. The results showed that the consumer involvement have a positive impact in the acceptable waiting time. On the other hand the effect of the uniqueness of the service over the same variable was not confirmed. The time pressure indicated a positive impact on the perceived waiting time and the moderate effect of the interpersonal relationship of the connection between negative affective reactions and the overall service evaluation was also confirmed. Beyond the proposed hypotheses, it was performed a exploratory test whereby it was confirmed the moderator effect of the gravity variable on the relations that form the basic model of the waiting effect on the overall service evaluation. In the end the results are discussed, and the limitations of the study and suggestions for future surveys are presented.

O presente estudo tem como principal objetivo avaliar o impacto de aspectos contingenciais no modelo básico do efeito da espera na avaliação geral de um serviço. Com base em estudos referentes à espera já realizados, o presente trabalho definiu o “modelo básico do efeito da espera na avaliação geral do serviço” que consiste no impacto negativo da espera na avaliação geral do serviço por meio da suscitação de emoções negativas. A influência de fatores contingenciais sobre o modelo é a principal contribuição do estudo, dado que essa abordagem não havia sido ainda estudada. Inicialmente, foi realizada uma etapa exploratória, qualitativa, para investigar as relações propostas no modelo teórico, assim como para compreender melhor os serviços de saúde, campo de estudo da pesquisa. Na sequência, a influência do envolvimento do consumidor, da singularidade do serviço, da pressão do tempo e do relacionamento interpessoal no modelo central foi investigada através da realização de uma survey com 382 pacientes As hipóteses foram testadas por meio de modelagem de equações estruturais, com o software LISREL 8.51. Os resultados indicam que o envolvimento do consumidor tem impacto positivo no seu tempo de espera aceitável. Já o efeito da singularidade do serviço sobre essa mesma variável não foi confirmado. A pressão do tempo apresentou impacto positivo no tempo de espera percebido e o efeito moderador do relacionamento interpessoal na relação entre as respostas afetivas negativas e a avaliação geral do serviço também foi confirmada. Além das hipóteses propostas, foi realizado um teste exploratório segundo o qual se confirmou o efeito moderador da variável gravidade sobre as relações que compõe o modelo básico do efeito da espera da avaliação geral do serviço. No final, os resultados são discutidos, e as limitações do estudo e sugestões para futuras pesquisas são apresentadas. / The most important objective of the present study is to evaluate the impact of the contingency aspects on the basic model of the waiting effect in the overall service evaluation. Based on studies in reference to the wait already carried out, this study defined the "basic model of the waiting effect on the general evaluation of the service" as being the negative impact of waiting in the general evaluation of the service because of the rise of negative emotions. The influence of contingency factors over the model is the most important contribution of the study as this approach has never been studied before. Iniatially, there was a qualitative exploratory to investigate the proposed relations in the theoretical model, as well as to have a better understanding of health care services, the field study of the research. Following that, the influence of the consumer involvement, the uniqueness of the service, the time pressure and the interpersonal relationship in the central model was investigated through a survey conducted among 382 patients The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling with LISREL 8.51 software. The results showed that the consumer involvement have a positive impact in the acceptable waiting time. On the other hand the effect of the uniqueness of the service over the same variable was not confirmed. The time pressure indicated a positive impact on the perceived waiting time and the moderate effect of the interpersonal relationship of the connection between negative affective reactions and the overall service evaluation was also confirmed. Beyond the proposed hypotheses, it was performed a exploratory test whereby it was confirmed the moderator effect of the gravity variable on the relations that form the basic model of the waiting effect on the overall service evaluation. In the end the results are discussed, and the limitations of the study and suggestions for future surveys are presented.

Magister Public Health - MPH / The development and provision of equitable and acceptable standard of health services to all segments of the population has been the major objective of the 1993 Ethiopian National health policy. However, community based studies on satisfaction with public health care facilities reveal that the majority of the population are not satisfied with the services provided predominantly as a result of the long waiting times. Studies done on private health facilities on the contrary reveal that patients are satisfied with the service delivered within short waiting times in these clinics. Even though the speculated waiting time is thought to be long among the public health care facilities and short in private clinics, the actual waiting and service times have not been measured and compared. Aim: To determine the waiting and service times among the public and private health care facilities and measure the perceptions of 'acceptable' waiting time among the providers and clients. Materials and methods: A cross sectional observational study using quantitative techniques was carried out amongst patients and staff at selected public and private health care facilities in Gondar District. Stratified sampling method was used to select facilities. All patients visiting the selected facilities and all staff who provided service to patients on the day of the study were included in the time-delimited sample. Data was collected by research assistants and health workers from all patients attending the health care facility by registering the arrival and departure time of each patient to the facility and to each service point on a patient flow card. Then data was cleaned and captured by a specific Waiting and Service Time database. Descriptive statistics was done on waiting and service times for each facility and this was summarized for each public and private health facility by using tables and graphs. Finally a comparison was made for private and public health facilities by using Wilcoxon-mann-whitney non parametric tests. / South Africa

Magister Public Health - MPH / Aim: To determine the waiting and service times among the public and private health care facilities and measure the perceptions of “acceptable” waiting time among the providers and clients.

Bakgrund: Njurtransplantation ses som den främsta behandlingsmetoden vid terminal njursvikt, då den ökar både livskvalitet och livslängd för patienten jämfört med dialys. Prevalensen av njursvikt ökar i hela världen och efterfrågan av njurar möter inte behovet. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att belysa patientens upplevelse i väntan på en njurtransplantation. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en litteraturstudie med induktiv ansats, för att bilda en uppfattning om hur forskningsläget ser ut inom valt område. Resultat: Resultatet baseras på nio kvalitativa vetenskapliga artiklar från sju olika länder, där fyra kategorier framkom, Ett liv som begränsar, Förväntningar, Glädje och sorg samt Behov och betydelse av stöd. Gemensamt för samtliga artiklar var att livet begränsades i väntan på en njurtransplantation, vilket påverkade patienterna både emotionellt och fysiologiskt. Ju längre tid som patienterna befann sig på väntelistan minskade hoppet om en ny njure, och känslan av frustration samt oro ökade. Konklusion: Litteraturstudien visar på att behovet av information från sjuksköterskan till patienter som väntade på en njurtransplantation var stort. Information skapade en känsla av delaktighet i vården som i sin tur bevarade patientens hopp, samt minskade upplevelsen av oro. / Background: Kidney transplantation is seen as the main treatment method for terminal kidney failure as it increases both quality of life and longevity of the patient compared to dialysis. The prevalence of kidney failure is increasing worldwide and the demand for kidneys is not meeting the need. Aim: The aim of the study was to highlight the patient's experience while waiting for a kidney transplant. Method: The study was conducted as a literature study with an inductive approach to form an idea of what the research situation looks like in the chosen area. Result: The result is based on nine qualitative articles from seven different countries where four categories emerged: A life that limits, Expectations, Joy and sorrow and Need and importance of support. Common to all articles was that life was limited while waiting for a kidney transplant, which affected the patients both emotionally and physiologically. The longer the patients were on the waiting list, the less hope for a new kidney diminished and the feeling of frustration and anxiety increased. Conclusion: The literature study shows that the need for information from the nurse to patients waiting for a kidney transplant was great. Information created a sense of participation in care which in turn preserved the patient's hope and reduced the experience of anxiety.

This study explores the experiences of relatives waiting. Often relatives wait for considerably long periods, especially in critical care areas, whilst their loved one, whose health status is unknown, receives care. To explore these experiences and to understand the symbolic meaning behind the participants’ stories, a grounded theory approach was utilised which is firmly rooted in the sociological theory of symbolic interactionism. A qualitative approach was employed in order to yield a rich description of the human experience often not found in quantitative studies (Jamerson, Scheibmeir, Bott, Crighton, Hinton and Kuckelman, 1996, p. 468). Similarly, the use of feminist principles to guide this study has facilitated a greater understanding of such issues as gender roles, language, power and hierarchy. Using grounded theory methodology, audio-taped interviews were conducted with six female relatives who were recruited using theoretical sampling. Simultaneous recruitment, data collection, analysis and literature review took place, as advocated and outlined by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1967). The overarching core category discovered using this approach which epitomises the waiting experience, is the balancing of both positive and negative aspects of the four codes identified. These four codes are -mothering, trust, flustered anxiety and institutional and medical power. Each code had negative aspects, such as being denied the felt need to mother the critically ill loved one, being asked to entrust the health of a loved one to people that relatives had never met, feelings of fluster and anxiety, and a perception that they would interfere with medial care if they were to be involved in their loved one’s care. Conversely, each code could potentially have a positive aspect, such as being involved in the care of the loved one, feelings of relief once the care of the loved one was entrusted to ‘professional’ health care providers, affiliating with other relatives who were waiting in similar circumstances, and receiving frequent information from staff. A final model was produced that illustrates the balance that many relatives aspire to when waiting in the Emergency Department waiting room. If the balance tips in favour of the negative aspects of the codes, a negative impact on the relative’s feelings of well being can result.

<p>Lengthy waiting times have been a problem in Swedish health services for many years. In 1992, Sweden implemented a national maximum waiting-time guarantee (MWG) through an agreement between the Swedish Government and the Federation of Swedish County Councils. The “guarantee” assured patients that the waiting time between the decision-to-treat and the treatment itself would not exceed three months. The national MWG covered twelve different treatments/interventions and remained in force for five years. This dissertation describes the genesis of the MWG, its implementation, and its effects.</p><p>Four papers serve as a foundation for the dissertation. Paper I describes how the guarantee was implemented during the first two years. Paper II studies the impact that the MWG had on cataract surgery. Paper III uses the results of two questionnaire surveys of department heads to explain why the MWG, although successfully launched, became increasingly difficult to maintain. Paper IV analyses data from the national cataract register to determine how production and waiting times in cataract surgery were affected by termination of the MWG.</p><p>This dissertation confirms that waiting time for health care is a complex phenomenon resulting from multiple causes. “Guarantees” are of particular interest because they define what constitutes too long in reference to waiting times. Beyond that, they are only a framework for developing a plan of action. The positive effects of the MWG were transient and based on rationalisation, introduction of new technology, and stricter prioritisation. The MWG contributed towards empowering patients and slowing the expansion of treatment indications, but it was unsuccessful in levelling out the wide regional variations in surgical rates.</p>

The research evaluated the remodeled lobby and reception office of the Linn- Benton Housing Authority, Albany, Oregon. Programming goals identified five needs: protect client privacy, provide for orderly queuing at the reception counter, decrease contact time between clients and staff, and improve reception office for attention focused tasks and for space intensive tasks. These five goals formed the basis of a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of the lobby and reception office. Concepts from cognitive theory and culture and methods from ethnography and environment-behavior research were used to study public visitors and staff in these areas. Data were analyzed according to cognitive cultural categories then compared to criteria specified for building performance. The performance was measured and evaluated for concordance between the criteria and performance. Ethnographic methods provided insights into the knowledge, beliefs, and values of the users of the study area. This information served as a measure of building performance reflecting cultural meanings attributed to the study area; it provided information about how visitors and staff used these meanings to mediate their experiences within the building. Data was compared to data from the programming study and from an earlier series of exit interviews with public users after the remodeling was completed. Information from the programming phase was used to develop the criteria for building performance. Exit interviews were based on open-ended questions about activities, impressions, and feelings about the housing authority lobby. This contributed to the measures of performance. Data collected for this research was based on ethnographic interviews, semi-structured interviews, ethnographic observations, and behavior maps. These four methods allowed triangulation of data to ensure adequate and reliable coverage of the complexity and variety of behaviors and activities within the study area. This information provided the major data for evaluating building performance. The evaluations of the five programming goals indicated generally positive results for privacy, queuing, contact with staff, and space intensive tasks. There was a negative evaluation for attention focused tasks. Cultural meanings attributed to the remodel design include an improved sense of self-worth, sense of confidence and trust identified as professionalism, improved staff security, and improved valuation of privacy. / Graduation date: 2004 / p.58 missing from both paper copies. Author unavailable to supply.